Taylor's story

Taylor Moon was only 12 years old when she decided to accept the responsibility of caring for her mum and helping to raise her younger brother, Kyle, who was 5 at the time.

Taylor's mum had been working in security at a hotel, and was in a cold room when an accident occurred.

‘A couple of cartons of beer fell off the palette into her,' says Taylor. ‘She had a titanium fusion in her neck, and she had spinal cord damage.'

Intensive therapy and shock treatment to stimulate her muscles didn't work. Taylor's mum used crutches temporarily, but after developing carpal tunnel syndrome-a painful hand disorder-she started using a wheelchair.

‘She was angry at everyone; she was so upset,' says Taylor.

Taylor had a choice: take on the responsibility of helping to raise Kyle, and care for her mum; or let another person take on a primary caring role and risk being separated from her mum.

‘That motivated me enough,' she says.

‘I wanted to see my friends, stay with my mum and stay in my house. I had people ringing me every week saying, "Is it too much?" You reach the point where you are like: it's your mum—you can't give up on her that easily. I did a lot of soul searching. I didn't want to carry this burden of, "You didn't even try".'

Taylor talks about her life as a young carer and working towards her goals.

What it's like being a young carer

Taylor, now 18, has taken a very active role in raising her brother.

‘I'm kind of more than his sister,' she says.

‘I've taught him how to write, ride a bike and swim. I used to feed him and make his lunch.'

Taylor says it is sometimes difficult for Kyle to accept her caring role.

‘It's a very temperamental relationship,' she says.

‘We have moments where he will just listen to me because he knows I'm not joking around. Other times he'll be like, "You are my sister-you shouldn't be bossing me around".'

Taylor says she enjoyed her high school years, and received a lot of support from a long-term boyfriend, his family and her friends.

‘School was my safe haven,' she says.

‘It was my getaway. It was like my weekend going to school. There was no bullying. If I had to stay at home because I was sick, a couple of my friends would come over and check up on me and take me to the doctor.'

Still, she says, accepting so much responsibility as a young carer has been challenging at times.

‘It got to the point where I'd come home (from high school), help Kyle do his homework, do mine, cook dinner, do the cleaning and put him to bed. I couldn't go out to the movies or to parties. I could never ever be the drunk girl: I was always sober, saying, "Stop drinking so much guys". Everyone called me mother hen.'

Working towards my goals

Taylor applied herself at high school, and graduated with an overall position score (OP) of 4.

‘I've always been really good at school,' she says.

‘I got in the top 6 in my school for OPs.'

Her results meant she could go to university—a huge personal achievement.

‘I'm the only one in my family to go to uni (so far),' she says.

‘There is no way I'm going to sit back and say, "I had a really bad year and my mum is sick".'

In addition to recently finishing the first year of her double degree in Business and Psychology at Queensland University of Technology, Taylor is also working part-time at Kmart. Already, she has been recognised for her work ethic.

‘I got employee of the month recently,' she says.

‘Because of my situation at home, I do really well at whatever I do outside of home, because I want to concentrate.'